Role of individual in history
by bhut
Summary: An AU - Lester holds a very unorthodox wake for Christine Johnson; unfortunately for him, the latter isn't as dead as the others think she is.


**Role of individual in history**

_Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, all belong to Impossible Pictures._

_Note: Contains spoilers._

"Mr. Quinn – back so soon, and without either Helen or Christine," Lester's voice sounded sour, but not overly so. "I'm guessing that your mission was a failure, though I am amazed that it had taken you all so long all the same."

"Lester," Danny said slowly, "Helen has fed Christine to a future predator."

"But there's a 'but' or an 'and' in here somewhere."

"So we went to the future through the time anomaly at the race track," Danny continued, "and when we came on the other side, the future had... changed."

"Changed."

"Yeah, gone is the dystopia that we had to deal with when we rescued Jack," Abby answered instead of Danny, "now in its' place lies London – well, futuristic London," she paused. "It may not be exactly out of Connor's comic books or something out of the Star Wars™ trilogies, but it's futuristic enough, got robots and all, including the ARC."

"Really?" Lester sounded genuinely curious for once.

"Really," Danny nodded, "and I think your descendant is in charge of it as well."

"I see," Lester said slowly, "by feeding Christine to a monster, Helen had saved the humanity's future and provided at least one of us with a steady job to be passed on to his children? Impressive. This actually calls for a celebration!"

"Lester!" Abby gasped. "You cannot be so-"

"Now-now, Miss Maitland, I am inviting all of you to this charming little restaurant-karaoke place – since it's Tuesday, they're holding a seventies theme tonight. Come on – I'm buying drinks for all of you."

"Christine Johnson _is_ dead, Lester, show some-" Danny paused.

"And I will, in song, tonight. Once you'll hear me, you'll be weeping and pleading for me to stop," Lester said calmly as he got out of his seat for once. "Everybody, come on, I am giving you the rest of the day off, you might as well spend it in the seventies style."

"Once you put it that way," Danny shrugged, "very well. We might as well go along."

"Now that's the spirit!" Lester said, smiling brightly – clearly the news that out of Christine's demise came something very good for his family at least had put him into such a good mood that nothing could really ruin it. "Follow me, then."

* * *

"I can't believe it," Jenny Lewis said as she observed the partying of the ARC's field crew led by Lester. "I mean, I always knew that James was crass and I didn't even know much of Danny Quinn at all, but still, this is too much... and I am out of five more quid," with those words she passed the mentioned amount of cash to her interlocutrix.

"Well, at least I am making some money out of this already," Christine Johnson shrugged as she took the binoculars from the other woman. "And Ms. Lewis? Don't be so surprised. The underlings always follow the boss, sooner or later, one way or another, no matter what or who that boss is," she paused and pursed her lips. "And I always knew that James was _that_ crude – when the time comes I will enjoy getting rid of that bastard."

"Glad to see that you've kept true to yourself," the third woman joined the pair. Unlike Jenny and Christine who were sharing an umbrella, Helen was wearing a thin rubbery raincoat, yet the rather cool drizzle didn't seem to bother her at all. Then again, however, Helen had endured everything and every sort of weather, from Carboniferous' deluges to Ice Age's ice storms, and some drizzle didn't bother her in the least. "Anyways, unless you two want to see some more, I think that it's time to go now."

"Where are we going?" Jenny turned around, not bothering to hide her eagerness unlike Christine. "Back to Rome? They certainly had some fine wines back in the 70s AD!"

"No," Helen shook her head, "to the time of the Tudors – it's time for us to help Christine over here to fix her family's fortunes."

"Are you implying what I think that you're implying?" Now Christine appeared to be as animated as Jenny was – almost. "Are you going to fulfill your promise and help me salvage the family's gaffe of backing up Mary of Scotland over Elizabeth the First?"

"Yes, I am, but you better be nicer to Jenny – she's the one with people skills," Helen said calmly, looking down at ex-social worker despite the latter's greater height.

For once Christine looked flabbergasted and speechless.

"Relax," Jenny said warmly, grabbing the woman by hand, "Helen may not have half the social skills of the bird of air and beasts of field that she is so fond of, but she always carries out her promises. Now shall we go?"

Helen just 'humphed' as Christine nodded mutely in agreement and with a gesture opened a time anomaly. Still smiling reassuringly and holding on to Christine, Jenny followed after Helen, even as the time anomaly snapped shut behind them in the early autumn's gloom, unnoticed by anyone.

And overhead, the sky darkened with rainclouds and thunder rumbled in the distance – a big storm was coming.


End file.
